This is the age of materialism and every one
seeking to accumulate as much wealth as possible in the least possible
time, most of the time usurping the rights of others. This is the
reason now students, dominated by the thinking of their parents and
society, also aim to acquire only that type of education which can
enable them to earn the maximum. A recap of the changing preference,
for the type of education, also proves this and exhibits the herd
mentality of the upcoming generation to join information technology
bonanza.

Whereas the direction and type of education to be
imparted should have been govern by our national objectives and
priorities. National objectives must include faster development of
economy, narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor and better
standard of living — improvement for all and not for a small group
or few groups. This can only be achieved by following a goal oriented
technology. There are no short-cuts in life. Therefore, first we have
to plan what we wish to achieve and then develop and implement
policies to achieve these objectives.

Two of the worst weaknesses of this nation are
myopic vision adhocism. The decision makers also suffer from selective
perception and make decisions in isolation and also assume that all
other factors will remain constant. For example when we wish to
increase export of textile products, we only seek incentives and
protection. We hardly pay any attention to changing rules of the game,
preference of buyers and never take into account what our traditional
competitors are doing. And worst of all make no effort to optimize
cost, I am not referring to cost cutting approach, I am talking about
making the best use of each rupee spent.

I will also say that policy planners do not take
holistic approach in education. Though, there are education ministries
at federal and provincial levels, we are still following the rule of
colonialism — a different education for the rulers and the being
ruled. Most of us hesitate to accept this fact, but is it not a
reality that syllabi of private schools for elites and 'yellow
schools, are different? We are bent upon continuing the 'class
system'. This class system is also followed by the corporates who love
to induct youngsters from elite class only to maintain close liaison
with those who are part of pressure groups.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to abolish this
dual system of education. If we believe that syllabi taught at yellow
schools is of no consequence, we must follow the syllabi followed by
the elites. There should be one and only one system of education for
in Pakistan. There can be pros and cons of following the policy, but
the sooner we implement this the better it will be for the larger
interest of the nation.

For the poor standard of education both students
and teachers are responsible. Students are not able to pay attention
because they do not see any future and teachers have all the
complaints — low remuneration at the top. If we follow a holistic
approach, plan to produce only required number of graduates and
skilled youths, we can overcome the problem of unemployment to a large
extent. This is not an outrageous idea. The data about various
industries is available. Based on this making a forecast of future
requirement for educated and skilled workforce should not pose any
problem. At least two elaborate documents: five year development
programme of the GoP and the World Bank's development report.

I may sound cynical when I say that Pakistan is
blessed with tremendous resources and has the potential to become
enormously strong economic power. This is not wishful thinking because
at one time Pakistan has much robust economy as compared to those
countries which now make newly industrialized countries. While those
countries worked hard Pakistan fall pray to the luxury of aid, grant
and soft term loans. Pakistan became a testing laboratory for
experimenting various development theories of the West. Most of the
aid, grant and soft term loans were not aimed at generating revenue,
today we have a huge burden of external debt.

There is no fun and time in crying on spilt milk.
If we are serious in bringing prosperity, for all, we have to think
and work like Japan and Germany — rebuilding after devastation at
the end of second world war. We must be thankful to God because we are
not sitting on debris. The country has an elaborate infrastructure.
The only thing we have to do is improving the education system. Each
of us must work hard, strengthen institutions, improve governance
level and reject those who are not willing to become part of the
nation building programme.